Here is something from back in August. The tune is Coltrane's Equinox. To add to Bill's thread in Misc about portable recorders, this was recorded by Jon, our guitar player, on a Zoom H4. He gave this to me last night, so it's the first I've heard a Zoom recording of our band. This is an MP3, and I'm assuming he recorded it in MP3 mode. The recording quality is pretty good on the stereo in my living room, which has a nice subwoofer. On my laptop it's kinda hard to hear the bass; but then it's a laptop. Anyway, I thought it might be useful to those of you following Bill's thread.

Dave, do you guys do any other Coltrane, or maybe some Miles? My band has been talking, forever, about trying "So What." If you get a recording of the SRV stuff, you have to post it here! It would be great to hear you guys perform "The Stevie Ray Variations."

Again, the Zoom recording sounds great. My computer is connected to an old 1978 Technics receiver driving four Polk Audio bookshelf speakers. The bass in your recording is clear and defined, the cymbals and guitar are bright, but not harsh... I sound like I write for Audiophile magazine, or something! Anyway, good job!

We have three Miles Davis tunes on the list; So What, All Blues, and Freddie Freeloader. We talked about doing Coltrane's Naima and Giant Steps; but since we never rehearse, they've never made the list.

The Montford Park shows are great! I have had the pleasure of going to see them almost every month (as long as I remember to look for the date). If you're in the Asheville area get in touch and please join me. It's a fun club in the downtown area with a great selection of beers from all over the world and good BBQ (14 sauces) but the MUSIC prevails! Art

Sounds really nice Dave. I'm interested to know how far from the band you set the recorder up?

Graeme.

p.s. A new name in bass playing - Hadrien feraud from paris - kicked his Bass Day Uk performance off with Giant Steps. this was the first time he'd played with either the drummer or keyboard player and it was fantastic.

Thanks Graeme! If I remember correctly, Jon had the recorder on a mic stand maybe five feet in front of the stage, but off to the side so that it was more protected from people moving about.

Hadrien Feraud is a great player! His clip on the Bass Day UK site is really nice.

I've been working on Giant Steps recently; progress is very slow, and I play it very slow. It's a great teaching tool in that I can quickly and easily completely lose where I am on the fretboard and in the progression; it highlights weaknesses that need a lot of work. I'm still basically just working on the structure of the progression; I haven't even tried working on a walking bassline or soloing over the changes. It's a very long term project!

What fun to play material that's not the 'standard 1-4-5 stuff'. Dis-similar to myself, as I'm limited with what I can 'pull off', or at least with a semblence of remaining faithful to the fundamental tune. The downside of being a soloist is no backing support. So, I play a lot of 'bassic' (sic) grooves, and then give my solo sections get as much 'wanton extravagance' as I can. ;)